The restaurant was founded in 1999 by its former chef, Naomichi Yasuda of Chiba Prefecture, who returned to Japan in January 2011 to open a new restaurant in Tokyo, Sushi Bar Yasuda.[2][3][4][5][6][7] It is owned by Shige Akimoto, and Scott Rosenberg.[8] The current chef is Mitsuru Tamura.[9]

In 2000, restaurant critic William Grimes of The New York Times gave Sushi Yasuda three stars, and in 2001 he called it "sublime."[17] In 2011, Eric Asimov of The New York Times gave it three stars, and Bloomberg gave it two and a half stars.[5][18]

In 2013, Zagat's gave it a food rating of 28, the second-highest in the East 40s, and rated it the 9th-best restaurant in New York City.[13][19]